Sunday With Siri Mae

Hey Boys!  It's Daddy!

Yesterday we spent much of the day wondering through the HUGE Weekend Market.  The market is said to be the biggest flea market in the world and after experiencing it, I believe it.  It's a maze of tightly clustered vendors that covers about 10 acres of space.  It was easy to get lost and lose your bearings once inside.  The key was to locate the tower in the very center of the market so that you could figure out where you were in relation to where you began.  So after spending so much time walking, sweating, and haggling with vendors over prices, we decided to keep today a little more low key.

We began the morning like we normally do, with breakfast downstairs in the lobby.  They have a great buffet comes as part of the package with staying at the hotel.  It's been fun seeing Siri try out foods that she's never had before.  Her foster family was very poor and no doubt probably had very little meat to eat, so she's very suspicious of eating meat.  Coming from a Muslim family, we knew she had never had pork before, but just like the rest of us Andersons, she loves bacon!!

Next, we decided to walk down to the MBK Mall and just take in the sights that we came across.

First we took a stroll through Lumphini Park.

As we got closer to the mall, I noticed that we were very close to the Erawan Shrine.  The shrine is a Buddhist place of prayer, located in the center of town at the base of an upscale shopping mall.

As we were about to depart, we noticed some really loud music and a bunch of commotion going on in the street.  When we got to a better viewing point, we saw the Red Shirts.  We read some about the Red Shirts before we arrived.  Evidently, they are a group that doesn't like the Thai government and periodically form protests.  This time last year, the protests turned violent and the largest mall in the country was nearly burned down.  It's just now reopening.  After talking to some bystanders, this was the anniversary of their protests a year ago and 75,000 Red Shirts were descending upon downtown Bangkok for another rally.  As you can see from the video I shot, the police were on hand in big numbers, but stood by as Red Shirts jumped out of their vehicles to conduct the traffic themselves.  Protesting the government in the US is nothing unusual, but in Thailand, it's against the law to say or do anything that paints the Royal family in a bad light.  As you can tell from the video, not all Thais feel that the government is doing a poor job.  This one old man was letting the protesters have it!!

Even though I was curious and wanted to check out how it all went down, we didn't feel like hanging around a potentially violent protest with our new daughter was such a great idea, so we headed in a different direction.

But the best part of our day was watching Siri continue to make such big strides, like she has everyday.  Today, her and I played a ton, and she laughed more than I've ever seen her laugh before.  She let me pick her up and hold her for 5 minutes today, and really likes for me to pick her up and toss her in the air.  We closed out the afternoon by the pool and she tried to swim to me.  She likes the water, but can't help but try to drink it.  She's adjusting amazingly!!  After she goes to bed and mommy and me spend time on the sofa talking, I usually say something about how much progress she's made each day, but conclude by saying that I wouldn't look for her to make that much more tomorrow.  But each day she becomes noticeably more social and open....especially towards me.  At this rate, it's not out of the realm of possibility that I could be carrying her off the plane! 

Thank you to all those who've been praying for us.  I couldn't ask for a better transition, or a better tempered daughter.  I've told everyone that this girl is tough as nails!  She can fall down at a full speed run and hop up with nothing but giggles.  There hasn't been one time that she's fallen or banged her head that she's ever cried or shed a tear.  No amount of heat or lack of nap or lack of food has ever caused her to be cranky or whimper.  She's just so easy to take care of. 

It's been 9 days since we first met, and I wake up each morning excited to see what new things I'll discover about her.  In the beginning, all I could see were the differences between her and our other two kids.  But the more I'm around her and get to know her, the more I notice how much she's just like our boys, and the better I feel about her integration into our family.

Take care.  Love you all!

Daddy (David)